The Triangle
by info overtaken
Summary: Set after 1x10, in an alternate canon where Nikita and Ryan are a couple, then suddenly Michael enters the picture... A love triangle ensues.
1. Chapter 1

"You need someone who really knows you, someone who can satisfy you." Michael whispered into her ear as he pressed his body into hers. Nikita softly sighed in agreement. Michael kissed her and ran his hands down her body, closer and closer to the spot where she needed him to be...

Then she woke up. Sitting up with a start, Nikita opened her eyes and looked around the dark room. The body next to her shifted.

"Nikita?" He said with one eye poked open.

"Did I wake you? Sorry, go back to sleep." She told him.

"Everything okay? Was it another nightmare?" The man next to her asked softly.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it."

He pressed her again, "You've been having them a lot lately. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I said I'm fine." She looked over to him, and then got out of bed. Ryan Fletcher followed her body as she walked across his bedroom.

"Where are you going?" he asked her.

"Home."

"Nikita, it's 2am. Come back to bed," it sounded like he was begging, but he meant it as more of a command. She shook her head at him as she pulled on her jeans.

"No. I like sleeping in my own bed anyways." She pretended not to see the hurt in his eyes. "I'll call you tomorrow." She said over her should as she left his room.

"Nikita!" He called after her, and she stopped at the doorway. "I love you" he said to her. She looked at him and smiled.

"I know." She said, and then left.

Outside Ryan's apartment, the cold October air struck her. She inhaled deeply and walked over to where she had parked her motorcycle. It had started out innocently enough, she thought. She knew Fletcher liked her, and she used it to her advantage to help her quest to take down Division. Eventually she convinced herself that she liked him, and they started spending time together, even when there was no mission to plan. She tried to convince herself that she loved him, but something inside her knew better. He loved her, definitely. He was absolutely taken with her. He'd follow her to hell and back, if she asked. Then she started dreaming about Michael, and things started to get complicated. She would be with Fletcher, and find her mind would be wandering to Michael. _Ryan is a good man. Michael is with Division. Then why can't I stop thinking about him? I don't know how much more of this I can take…. _She sighed to herself, put on her helmet, started her bike, and headed home. She was too tired, and too engrossed in her thoughts to notice the black car following her…

Back at her loft, she quickly whipped off her clothes and decided to take a hot bath before settling down to sleep. She came out of the bathroom, still damp, wearing nothing but her towel. Her hair stood on edge, and she knew she wasn't alone. She pulled out her gun, seemingly from nowhere, and turned and pointed it at the intruder.

"Michael?" Nikita was surprised. He stood, leaning against her door frame, unarmed. How had he found her? How long had he been there?

"What are you doing here..?" She kept her gun trained on him and inched closer.

"I've been following you," he replied, "first to Alex's apartment, and then to Fletcher's, and then here." She was stunned. How could she have been so careless?

"What have you done with Alex? If you've hurt her, I swear…" Nikita started, but he cut her off.

"Relax, she's fine. For now…" he said.

"What do you want? Shouldn't this place be crawling with Division agents?" She didn't like the dangerous look he had in his eyes, and suddenly she wished she was wearing clothes. Michael decided to cut right to the point.

"Are you seeing him? Fletcher?" Michael could barely say the man's name without getting agitated. Nikita was incredulous. She couldn't believe his audacity to come into her loft and simply ask her that.

"What? Why is that any of your business Michael?" She was suddenly furious with him. Who did he think he was? Barging in here and demanding to be told about her love life. He was the one who chose Division over her.

"Because I've _made it_ my business." He practically growled at her and took a step towards her. They were less than a foot apart now. "You can lower your gun, I'm not armed." He smirked at her. She searched his eyes for a moment, looked down at the ground, and looked back up at him again. She tossed her gun onto her bed.

"Yes, I'm seeing him. We've been together for a few months now." She said in an 'are-you-happy-now?' kind of tone. Michael's eyes flickered with emotion for just a second, and Nikita found herself feeling inexplicably guilty.

"He doesn't deserve you Nikita," he said to her, drastically changing his tone. She kept up her defensive tone though.

"Oh, really? This coming from the man who picked Division over me?" She kept her voice as level as she could, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of getting upset. Her triumph over her statement was short lived, as she saw the regret and hurt course through his eyes. Before he had a chance to respond to her, she asked him for a third time.

"Michael, _why _are you here?" She demanded and answer and he knew he could no longer dodge the subject.

"Because," he started to say, while taking another step towards her, closing the remaining space between the two of them, "I love you." And with that, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in for a kiss. At first she resisted, but after a second, she gave in and kissed him back. He ran his hands through her damp hair as she ran her hands up his shirt, grazing his buttons. When the kiss came to its natural end, she stepped back from him, out of breath and lips swollen. He stood still, looking straight into her eyes. When they both caught their breaths, she finally spoke.

"I'm with Ryan now. We can't do this." Her heart was racing, telling her to throw all caution to the wind and to stop talking, but her brain kept on screaming out _Fletcher is a good guy, don't do this to him! _She was feeling conflicted. Michael could see this in her eyes. He decided to help make up her mind.

"He doesn't know you like I do," Michael said as he stepped forward and embraced Nikita. "He can't protect you, or help you like I can. Nikita, you were right, about everything." He bared his soul to her.

"Michael, I…" She started to say but he cut her off.

"I'm sorry about what happened at the airport, with Kasim. I know you were only trying to save me, the way I always try to save you." He whispered to her and kissed her again. This time, she didn't pull away.

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><p><strong>AN: Hope you enjoyed this! I'll probably only continue if the reviews say I should! If not, it's a good lil stand alone piece, I think! Again, thanks for reading!<br>(And I promise I'm working on my other story, "Alternate Reality", I've just been SUPER busy!) **


	2. Chapter 2

She awoke peacefully. The windows in her loft let in just the right amount of sunlight, and she took in a deep breath of contentment. A quick glance at her clock told her it was just after dawn. Nikita let her eyes trail across her bed, and they stopped at the sight of the gorgeous, naked man asleep next to her. She watched his chest rise and fall, and mused to herself how serene Michael looked when he was sleeping. Last night's events came flooding back to her. Michael's body and hers tangled in one another's, he feel of his tongue on her body, and the way he seemed to know just when and where to touch her. A great pang of guilt hit her. _What about Ryan? Oh… _Her thoughts were interrupted when the body next to her stirred.

"Michael…" Nikita gently ran her hand across his cheek. With his eyes still closed, he grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips and kissed it.

"Morning, beautiful," he greeted her and opened his eyes to see Nikita looking less than pleased.

"Nikita, what's wrong?" She looked so distant and it hurt him.

"You should go, Michael. The longer you're here, the more dangerous it could be… for the both of us." She said to him as she pulled away and got out of bed.

"Since when did you care about danger, Miss-I'm-going-to-take-Division-down-all-by-myself?"

"Oh, and you're one to talk, Mister-I'd-jump-off-a-cliff-if-Percy-asked."

"Don't change the subject." He stood up and revealed his full naked body. Nikita fought hard to keep her eyes from wandering down… Her phone beeped with a text message. She mentally sighed to herself, _saved by the bell._ She grabbed her cell and read the sms:

_I was going to make you breakfast in bed, but you went home, so I'm bringing you some._

Nikita flipped her phone shut and threw it onto her bed. To her relief, Michael had put on pants. She suddenly felt like things were spinning out of control. She grabbed his shirt and threw it at him.

"Michael, you **have** to go. Now!" she said firmly. He cocked an eyebrow at her, asking why. "Ryan is coming over, right now." She told him. Michael muttered something under his breath, but Nikita didn't quite hear it.

"What? Look Michael, he's my –" he cut her off.

"He's your **what**? Your partner? Your boyfriend? Your lover?" he spat the words out like poison.

"Yes, Michael." Nikita looked at him dead in the eyes. "He is all those things. Or did you forget that you chose Division-"

He cut her off again.

"Don't start with that again. You knew how I felt about you. You've always know how I've felt about you. But you still chose Daniel, and now Fletcher. Never me. You never choose **me**." His words seemed to echo throughout the loft. Michael had finally said what he'd never had the nerve to before. He saw an emotion forming on Nikita's face, and he didn't recognize it. She walked over to him, and he thought she was going to hit him. Instead, she hugged him tight enough to squeeze the air out of him, and rested her head on his chest. After a few moments, she finally pulled away enough to look up into his eyes.

"Michael, you're a fool. It's always been you." She kissed him gently, and he wrapped his arms around her. When the kiss ended, she asked him again to leave.

"Ryan can't find you here. I don't want to hurt any more people. Don't you understand that? Please, Michael." He searched her eyes. He understood, but he didn't care. He never wanted to leave her again.

"Will you break up with him?" He knew he sounded a bit desperate and juvenile, but he couldn't help it. Nikita told him she'd break things off as soon as he came over. As she went to let Michael out, they heard footsteps coming up the stairs, two floors below. Nikita was almost ready to panic. She grabbed Michael and threw him back into the loft, half whispering, half yelling to him, "Hide!"

She had just enough time to rip the sheets off her bed before Ryan arrived. In her rush to conceal the "evidence" of her previous night's activities, she realized she had no idea where Michael had hid himself. Ryan had a tray of coffee, and a brown bag holding what she assumed was a breakfast bagel. _How sweet,_ she thought.

"Hey you," he said to her, and moved to kiss her. She involuntarily backed away, her eyes searching every corner of her loft for signs of where Michael might be.

"What's wrong?" he looked puzzled and hurt. She mentally sighed and decided to bite the bullet.

"Ryan… we have to talk." He gave her an 'I-knew-it' kind of look, and she wondered if he was going to make it easy on her. She was wrong.

"Nikita, before you say anything… I know things have been rough lately, I know. You're trying to take down Division, and it's stressful. What you went through with them, I can't even imagine. But I don't want to lose you, so I'll take things however slow you want." Ryan moved forward to embrace her. All of her training at Division, and she had no idea how to diffuse this situation. She felt useless and utterly guilty about Michael. But she loved Michael, not Ryan. _Shit. Shitshitshit. He's not going to leave, and I have no idea where Michael is. What a mess!_

She sighed, and hugged him back.

From his hiding spot, Michael looked on as another man hugged Nikita. He felt the jealousy run through him, and swallowed it down as best he could. Even though he knew she was ending things, he couldn't help but visualize all the other times Fletcher had touched her, tasted her. It made him hot with anger. He clenched his fist, and readjusted himself. He was perched outside her window, balancing quite fearlessly on the edge. He couldn't hear what they were saying, so instead he watched their body language to try to piece together what was going on. _Why is Fletcher doing most of the talking? Maybe he's begging her not to dump him. Can't even take rejection like a man… God, I wonder what she sees in him._

Michael continued to comfort himself with thoughts of Ryan's supposed worthlessness, while on the inside, Nikita continued racking her brain trying to think of how to properly end things with him.

"Ryan, I just don't think that's a good idea. You're so sweet for offering to take things slow, but that's not what I need." She studied his eyes to try and read him. He offered up surprisingly little. He instead, changed gears and caught her off guard.

"Nikita… is there someone else?" he asked her almost hesitantly, like he knew the answer.

"Ryan…" Nikita didn't want to outright admit that she was in love with Michael, but she also didn't want to lie. Lucky for her, Ryan interrupted her.

"It's Michael, isn't it? Look, I know you had," he paused, trying to choose his word carefully, but failing, "_something _in the past, but Nikita, he's Division. You're trying to take them down. If he loved you, then why isn't he here right now, fighting with you instead of against you? He may not be here, but **I am**." Ryan inched closer to her. Nikita wanted to tell him that he was wrong, so wrong. Not only did Michael love her, but he was literally there right now. She searched around the loft, subtly, hoping Michael hadn't heard. Having taken her eyes off Ryan, she failed to notice that he had closed the distance between them, and before she could stop it, he kissed her. A loud crash came from outside, that tore the two apart, and had Nikita reaching for her gun, and Ryan ducking down.

Outside, Michael, having seen the kiss, lost his footing and slipped from the ledge.

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks so much for all the positive responses to the first chapter! I'm so glad you all enjoy it :)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

Hanging precariously from a tiny window ledge, Michael quickly assessed his situation. **_Drop 8 stories? No thanks. Climb back up? Highly unlikely… Wait here and let Fletcher find me? I'd rather drop the 8 stories. Wait, is that…? _**Michael's eyes focused to the left of him. One floor below him, and about 8 feet away, there appeared to be remnants of some scaffolding. He had no idea how sturdy it would be, but he figured the risks of that outweighed all the others. He inhaled sharply and leapt the short gap. Crashing into the steel bar chest first, he had the wind knocked out of him, but he clung on for dear life. The window directly in front of him was partly broken, and he decided his best chance at getting out of his situation alive, was to swing into it. He dropped down on the bars, and was hanging like a little kid on monkey bars. He started to rock himself back and forth, to gain momentum. The bar was about 2 feet away from the window, and if he missed, he'd plummet seven stories. **_This sure was a lot more fun on the playground, _**he thought to himself as he swung a little closer. His hands started to get sweaty, and tired, and he knew he only had a few swings left in him before he lost his grip. He swung backwards one last time, and propelled himself forwards with as much might as he could muster.

"Nikita?" Ryan called to her. She looked at him, crouched down on the floor, and scared. **_Thank god Michael isn't here to see this… I can only imagine what he'd say! _**Then it donned on her that the crash probably had been caused by Michael. She told Ryan to stay put, and she moved to the open window. She peered out. Nothing. She feared that Michael had fallen, but when she scanned the sidewalk below, it was empty. No body, no anything. Nikita didn't know whether to be relieved, or worried. She stuck her head out the window and scanned the area. She spotted the scaffolding, and the broken window. She surmised that he'd probably jumped into the floor below. **_Real smooth, Michael, _**she thought to herself and smirked. She turned back to Ryan.

"It's nothing, you can come out." She told her hopefully-soon-to-be ex. He smiled sheepishly at her and asked her what the noise had been. Just a little bird outside, she told him, and he laughed, drawing her close into his arms. **_Warning! Warning! Warning!_** Her brain yelled out at her to back away, but her feet remained firmly planted. She was very torn. He seemingly had read her mind, and started off the conversation.

"Look, Nikita, you don't need to take care of me. I know I'm not trained like Michael is, but I'm still a man, and you don't need to worry about me." He looked at her with a fire in his eyes that she hadn't seen before, and in that split second, she wondered to herself whether she did have feelings for him or not. But then thoughts of Michael came flooding back to her, and Ryan was quickly pushed from her mind.

"I know you don't need taking care of, and it's not that, really. I just can't be with you. It's not fair to you, and it's not fair to me."

"Fair? Since when was anything fair? Was it fair when Division made you an assassin? Was it fair when they killed Daniel? Was it fair when I fell in love with you? Life isn't fair, Nikita. But when I'm with you, it doesn't matter. I feel like I could actually take on Division by myself, and that's all because of you. So don't talk to me about fair. I know we have something here, and maybe you can't see it yet, but I can, and I'm not going to let it slip through my fingers." He cupped her face in his hand, and tilted her chin up to meet his eyes. He moved close enough to kiss her, but he hovered just before her lips.

"Please, just give us a chance." He whispered to her, and then kissed her forehead. He released her from his embrace, and then left. Nikita was left standing alone in the middle of her loft. Ryan had evoked feelings in her that she didn't know she had. She was feeling very confused, and flustered. She suddenly remembered Michael.

**_Could this day get any worse? I don't want to deal with this… I hope Michael doesn't ask me what happened. Well, if he does, I'll just distract him. _**She smiled to herself as she went to find him.

"Ughhhhhh," Michael groaned. He had made it, but not unscathed. As he flew through the window, his thigh had caught on a jagged piece of window shard, and it had lodged itself neatly into his leg. He came crashing onto the floor, and the piece had further wedged itself into him. He cried out in pain as his blood quickly formed a pool onto his pants. He took his knife out from his boot, and cut his pants open to reveal the wound.** _Great, this is just what I need,_** he thought darkly. He looked around the room he was in – an abandoned loft, covered in sawdust. With nothing to work with, and an inability to stand, Michael realized he was stuck where he was, for now. _**Here's hoping Nikita gets rid of that idiot soon and comes down here to find me**. _Though he did hope that Fletcher was already gone, he secretly hoped that Nikita didn't find him, because he was too proud to admit he still needed to be saved by her.

Nikita sauntered down the flight of stairs to the loft below hers.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," she cooed to him. She heard him moan out, and looked around in a panic.

"Michael…?" her tone was unsure with a hint of fright. He moaned out her name, and she ran over to the sound. She found him lying on the floor in a pool of blood. She saw the window, broken with blood on it, and looked down at him, with his pant leg cut open, and a piece of glass sticking out of it. You silly boy, she said to him as she rubbed his head.

"The things I do for love," he grunted out. She smirked at him.

"Now isn't the time for jokes. I'll get my kit, hang tight." She ran up to grab her first aid and ran back down to rescue her knight. She settled down beside him, and made to take the shard out, when he stopped her.

"Give me the tweezers." He said. She looked at him and smiled.

"Oh, Michael, don't be so stubborn. I know you can take care of yourself, but I'm not letting you pluck that shard out yourself." He rolled his eyes at her in defiance, and waved his hand at her to concede defeat. He tried his best not to wince as she delicately pulled the glass out of his thigh. She disinfected it, then wrapped him up in gauze.

"There, good as new." She helped him to his feet. He allowed her to put his arm around her for support, and together she helped him limp his way back up to her loft.

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks SO MUCH for all the great reviews! You're all fantastic and I appreciate each and every one :)<br>Just curious - do you prefer long(ish) chapters less frequently, or short(ish) chapters more frequently? So far I've been averaging 1300 words per chpt, but not updating *that* frequently... so, any feedback would be awesome! Thanks all! **


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